Unlike Medicare Supplement insurance, Medicare Advantage plans are not standardized, so you have look at each unique plan to determine what it covers. Medigap plans have been organized into benefit packages that are identified by letter. Medigap Plan F, for example, always includes the same comprehensive coverage. With Medigap insurance, the only difference you find among the Plan Fs offered by different companies is the cost of premiums.

All of the Medicare Advantage plans, on the other hand, have different rules set by different insurance companies. Most plans cover medication, but may not pay for every prescription. You have to check to see whether your prescriptions are covered if you switch Medicare Advantage plans. On average, beneficiaries have a choice of 12 Advantage Plans, but two dozen options are available in some metro areas.

With all of these inconsistencies, why are Medicare Advantage plans still popular? They offer some of the least expensive ways to complete Medicare’s coverage. See if there’s a Medicare Advantage plan available where you live right on our website. If you need help sorting it all out, just give us a call. Confidential consultations are free and can be arranged to fit your schedule.

By 2011, Advantage plan enrollment had increased to 12.1 million and about 25 percent of beneficiaries were enrolled in one. Just about all beneficiaries have one or more Advantage plans where they live. About 88 percent have an Advantage plan in their area that includes prescription drug coverage and charges no premium. If you get one of these, you still have to pay the Medicare Part B premium, but the Advantage plan may give you more benefits that you’d get with only Medicare.

Jim McFadden has over 11 years of executive-level experience in the health insurance industry, is a youth baseball, softball and football coach, and has one of the worst fantasy football records in the world.